It's Hopeless
by Flynt Coal
Summary: (ENDGAME/CHAPTER 5 SPOILERS) An AU where Hinata catches Komaeda preparing his own murder in the midst of the night. Rated T because some swearing, brought to you by Hinata Hajime. Some KomaHina, mostly at the end!


The night is pitch-black, and void of any stars. You can barely see the features of the island, so you take extra care where you walk. You don't want to crash into anything, because that would spell disaster to your plans.

You brush away the mangled white hair that falls in your face as you peer at the sky. You have put faith in the darkness of this night and your own luck that no one may see your actions tonight. You are grateful that the moon and stars are absent and unable to illuminate the island, but you almost wish you could see the glittering of starlight one last time. Not like anything could be done about that, though.

Everything was set in place now. You've only gone over your plans at least 55 times. As for now, you were preparing the final step. Currently you had your arms quite full with duct tape, rope, a knife, a whip spear, a fire extinguisher full of poison, and more… this was going to be fun.

You hesitated a second when making this part of your plot, but you suppose it's only a normal human reaction to not want to do this. Your thoughts and morals overpower your instinct, however, and you fully realize this has to happen.

If it's for the sake of destroying despair, then it's essential to-

"What the fuck are you DOING?"

You tense up from the sudden outburst, dropping everything from your flinch. Nearly everything. With luck you manage to nab the poison bottle in the air. While sighing in relief, You get knocked forth by an instantaneous sharp blow to the back. The bottle falls from you hands again, but rolls to the side. The same cannot be said for you, and you simply end up falling on your face.

The attacker, although you can't make them out clearly, is standing above you to your side. You breathe quickly, nervously, as they scoop up the spear. You reason that it's possible they could drive the thing into your back at any given moment. You wouldn't really mind if they killed you, but it would screw with your plans quite a bit… unless they were the traitor. You contemplate the chances of that. It would be a pretty lucky chance, but then again you're pretty lucky yourself. Not that it made a difference, since they didn't kill you anyways.

Actually, they didn't seem to be doing anything. You look up at the standing figure. There seemed to be movement in their whole structure. It almost looked like… quivering? No… that couldn't be right. You narrow your eyes and focus on who this could be. Your eyes are still adjusting to the dark, but…

"Hinata-kun?" The shape seems to respond to the name, and you can only wonder if you got it right. "Ko…maeda." Ah, now you recognize the voice. It is Hinata-kun after all. His voice wavered a bit, and you can tell he's getting pretty upset.

You perk your head up when he grumbles quietly. "What the hell… were you planning on doing with these…" He steps away to grab the fire extinguisher. "Ah! That's…" You can't help but exclaim as he tries to pry open the lid, but stops after you cry out, and looks at you expectantly.

You suppose your plan is foiled anyways. "It's full of poison…" You mumble sheepishly. Hinata-kun looks fearful, and picks up the knife as well. "Well?" He demands. You turn to him, unsure of the question. "Answer… what were you up to?!" His voice is continuing to rising in volume, and there's a hint of revealed emotion in it. You sigh, and roll your eyes. At least in the dark he couldn't see you do it, but it was almost typical of Hinata-kun, the reserve student with no talent to speak of, to be unable to draw a conclusion as simple as this.

What you don't realize is that Hinata-kun knows exactly what is happening here. He doesn't want to admit it to himself. He doesn't want to think you were serious. He doesn't want to believe you would commit murder. But he still doesn't know the half of it, that much you do know. He doesn't know who would actually be the one killed, he doesn't know how it will have anything to do with the traitor, and ultimately, he doesn't know your reasons. You don't want to tell him, either. He wouldn't agree. Ah, how simple-minded he is. But you don't want to lie, so you settle for telling not all of the truth.

"I was just off… to have myself killed, is all." Perfect. Either he will think it's a suicide or he was helping someone who followed his offer of letting them kill him. You don't really know which outcome he reaches, but he seems baffled, and that satisfies you enough. The more confounded he gets, the better. "Don't act as though you wouldn't be happy to see me dead, Hinata-kun. Maybe it would even bring you hope!" That was a solid lie. There is no hope for these students, including yourself. That's the sole reason why you are doing this. That's why your plan needs to carry throug-

In one sudden swift move, he swipes your hand and rips you off the stone ground. The two of you are face to face now, and you don't allow your gaze to waver even an inch, while your lips curl into a grin, which only makes Hinata-kun's expression tremble more. it doesn't help that you're slightly taller, adding a factor of intimidation on top of that. He's having a difficult time maintaining eye contact as well. Has he finally learned his place as a talentless, piece of trash just like yourself?

He mumbles something incoherent. You frown when you realize you were somehow supposed to have heard whatever he said. "Pardon?" You say nonchalantly. His teeth clench, and so does his fists. You speculate whether he'll punch you again or not. "I said…" He hesitates. "I don't want… you to die." You aren't really surprised. Even so, it's almost funny how distressed he's getting.

"You said it yourself, Komaeda… there's hope… for all of us… and I believe th...there's hope for you too!" Hinata-kun seems to be getting more angry and flustered than anything. But he is wrong, regardless. There wasn't any hope left for SHSL Despair. It just couldn't happen. You almost feel pitiful for the classmate in front of you, and his feeble, false hope.

"You're hiding something, Komaeda… I just know it. You know something we don't." Mm, he's sharper than you thought, you'll give him some credit. 'It's likely I don't want to know what it is, either… but if I can stop you from getting yourself killed, I will…" He startles you by grabbing your shoulders. You only notice it now, but it's actually odd how emotional he's becoming. You mean, he doesn't care for you at all, really. Right…?

Something sparkles on his cheek. Clearly you imagined it. He's not… crying. No. Not for you. You almost feel a twinge of confusion, like you're wrong. Wrong about the lack of hope. Wrong about the fact that SHSL Despair can never climb out of the quicksand pit of despair they buried themselves in. But that cannot be right, you've known hope your entire life. You know how it works. "No…" you mutter, mostly to yourself. Of course it's true. There is no hope for-

"Komaeda."

"..."

"You've got that wrong."

His grip on your shoulders tighten, and tug forward in a flash. You're pulled towards him. Your arms stiffen as your lips touch his. You find yourself unable to move, and incapable of processing anything that's happening. You struggle to comprehend what has happened, but your brain simply cannot make any connections. The one thing you do know is that you don't want to separate, or go anywhere at all. You allow your arms permission to snake around Hinata and embrace him, and your eyes close.

In that moment, nothing seems to matter to you anymore. Drastic measures for hope didn't matter. Neither did despair. Everything you were bent on building up for years melts at your feet, but you don't really find yourself caring. When both of you open your eyes, you stare deeply, admiring the look of the other student's olive irises. There was a sparkle in them, and you feel as though you could gaze at them for centuries.

If this was what hope truly was, then maybe, just maybe, there was hope after all.


End file.
